Sunday, March 09, 2008

The Calcutta Cup has gone to Scotland after they achieved a historic victory over arch enemies England on the weekend.

It came with a price though, as Scotland winger Rory Lamont will miss his side's final Six Nations match against Italy after sustaining a facial fracture after this unfortunate collision.

Lamont was taken off on a stretcher after colliding with Iain Balshaw in the first half at Murrayfield. The collision was purely accidental after both players slid in for the ball. The impact was such that even Balshaw had a pretty sore knee afterwards.

Lamont was released from hospital on Saturday but team doctor James Robson said the injury may need surgery.

"Rory has made good progress from his concussion but scans revealed he does have a facial fracture," said Robson.

Congrats to Scotland for a hard fought win, but for England, where to now? Perhaps Mr Cipriani's nightclub antics and suspension had an even bigger effect on this game than people realised.

posted by GMC at
10:47 pm | PERMALINKLike this post? Use the like, share, and tweet buttons above to tell your friends!

37 Comments:

Nasty blow, but nothing untoward from Balshaw.

Well done Scotland, they played the perfect game given the conditions and their strengths/weaknesses. England couldn't have picked a worse game plan, but even then, the worst crime was their apparent resistance to adapt.

Did anyone notice that the Scots hardly made an error, whether it be catching the high ball, or just simply hanging on to passes, while England (Shaw and the rest of the tight 5 especially) made vast numbers. In those conditions, that's the match.

I agree entirely Sander. People have laughed at Livremont all through this campaign about his experimental team, but surprise surprise, the French are still in with a (slim) chance of winning it. What's more, they now have a squad of about 40 players, of mixed ages, with full international experience, some of whom will be around for the next decade. Competition for places breeds success, a reason why England are failing so badly; Ashton simply wont change his team, despite the fact he's picked poor players to begin with.

Oh, and to the anonymous post above you, "Scotland did well not to concede a try" because they took Vickery out off the ball while running a support line for Croft. They did well not to get a yellow card for a proffessional foul!

I'm not sure why the referee should have stopped it. I didn't think play really went on that long after the collision - and I would imagine it's quite hard to tell whether a player is out cold or just having a lie-down in such a short space of time. When the ball went dead, the referee did stop the match.

"The ref should have stopped the game because Lamont was KO'd. Scotland did well not to concede a try"

I agree with rawling. it would be pretty hard to tell when some one is out cold, he could have had a broken nose for instance, and could have been lying there stunned, come on guys, if the ref were to stop the game every time there is a collision it would be scrum after scrum after scrum. The physio's were over pretty much straight away so he would have been in safe hands.

I was at the game and Scotland won fair and square the amount of bitter Englishmen in Edinburgh was horrific.After the end of the Italy - France game on BBC. They should highlights of the Ireland - Wales game BUT failed to show any of the highlights of the Scotland – England game. Instead should clips of Johnny Wilkinsons poor performace against Scotland.Frankly its pathetic.I’m not one for being anti-English but seriously what the hell is that about.Andy Nicol said “Why are we so obsessed about Wilkinson. There were 29 other better players on the pitch that day so why are we focusing on him. Scotland should be credited for there performance”. - John Inverdale didn’t say anything and carried on talking about Wilkinson. Arsehole.

Rob - Everybody talking about Wilkinson is not that surprising. The fact that he got the world record for points scored in the same game where he played so dreadfully is a talking point. I'm not at all surprised there weren't any highlights of the game - very few people on either side did anyhting good. The Scottish defence was good but other than that, what are you going to put on the highlights reel? It was one of the worst games of rugby I have ever seen. Scotland never looked like scoring a try, England only really had one opportunity and they messed that up. Ultimately Scotland won because they gave away fewer kickable penalties than England did.

yeah, scotland won, but only through English errors and penalties. England were terrible and Scotland were slightly less terrible. It is not sour grapes to say that Scotland played badly and won. England did the same against Italy. The only talking point from the game was how badly wilko played, that was all that was interesting about it. scotland played the same as they always did, just england played worse. Superb tackle from Jason White, and a sparky performance from Blair are the only positives i can see for either team.

Rob you're right about John Inverdale, he's a p**ck. Does annoy the hell out of me when everyone goes on about Jonny Wilkinson too. But the reason that they didn't show any highlights is because there weren't any.

Don't think the ref did anything wrong here. Both sides were terrible but scotland did deserve to win so well done to them for that. Scotland have great forwards but their backs are clueless, have a feeling Italy will beat them next week. Also think ireland will beat England because at the moment nothing is going right for them. Doesn't help with Ashton's poor selections. Vainikolo the volcano!?!? Think he must be dormant!

I demand that all England vs Scotland videos be removed from rugby dump on the grounds of witchcraft. It's not sour grapes there must have been some sort of wizardry, Wilkinson never plays that badly. Worst weekend ever. My rugby team got relegated, England lost rugby and cricket, brighton lost in the football and arsenal drew. How's everyone else's monday going?

Geraint you have every reason to be cheerful, Wales are the only team who have actually improved over the competition. All of the other five teams have been maddeningly inconsistent and overall there has been some pretty awful rugby. Let's hope Wales vs France can provide more entertainment next weekend. I shall be cheering for Wales personally, as a strong Welsh team can only be a good thing for improving the standard of English rugby.

Well done to the Scots -reputaion salvaged! What an impact sub with White coming on later in the game. He would be in any dream team starting 15. I really want to see Wales get the Grand Slam - back to their winning ways of old. I'm an English supporter but any half decent rugby gets my attention. Sour grapes? Dissapointd in the England performance but they didn't desreve to win...simple really. Cant wait for 'Super Saturady'...The bookies wont make it easy...

Obviously as a welshman i can't wait for the final game but i'm actually really looking forward to the other games too. 5th vs 6th place (scotland italy) 3rd vs 4th (ireland england) and 1st vs 2nd (wales france).

Scotland italy will want to avoid the wooden spoon. England ireland have a point to prove after a disappointing championship, and then wales france both competing for the title. Every game should hopefuly be a cracker.

i just want to clear a few things up, from my point of view there is no sour grapes, england were TERRIBLE so very predictable and unable to break the gain line, failing to but phases together.that was probably worse than the wales game and the worst ivwe seen in a while.Not a very exciting game as neither side looked like scoring a try, i just hope England can regain the confidence and look back at the WC for inspiration.

BALSHAW, YOU ARE SHIT!!!! why is he even in the England squad, let alone team, he is a little gay balarina who can't do anything right! Just fuck off! I am 18 and a half stone of pure muscle, so don't annoy me or I will actually fuck you up!

england were quite unsporting in that moment of play. They surged forward in an attempt to score a try. Only a great tackle form scottish captain Mike Blair prevented a try. Porfesional foul? dinne think so!

I'm sorry but that collision was completely avoidable! There may not have been intent to injure Lamont but going in feet first like Balshaw did is outrageous and inexcusable! what is he a f****n footballer??If he had gone in to challenge for the ball properly staying on his feet having realised that Lamont would get there first he probably would have won his side a penalty and no-one would have been needlessly injured!!!

I'm sorry but that collision was completely avoidable! There may not have been intent to injure Lamont but going in feet first like Balshaw did is outrageous and inexcusable! what is he a f****n footballer??If he had gone in to challenge for the ball properly staying on his feet having realised that Lamont would get there first he probably would have won his side a penalty and no-one would have been needlessly injured!!!

Looking at the Lions tour we saw simon shaw yellow carded and bannd for 2 weeks for kneeing Fourie Du Preez in the back. Surly then kneeing a player in the face wheather it is accideantal (and i question if it was) or not merits at least a yellow card.